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Evil Genius

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I sowed most of my sacred succulent trichocereus seeds on Sunday and came home tonight to find an infestation of mold growing on the soil :( the only thing I could find at the shops tonight was tomato dust which has

400g/kg sulfur as elemental sulfur

40g/kg copper as copper oxychloride

0.5 g/kg spinosad

would this be ok to use this as a funguside?

 

ive used it on cactus cuttings with no bad effects but im not sure how it would go on seedlings or in seedling trays

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Thanks man , where can I get it from ?

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ive used it on cactus cuttings with no bad effects but im not sure how it would go on seedlings or in seedling trays

 

Would you dilute it in water and spray it on them?

Edited by mushroomman

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Hy peroxide from chemists, some supermarkets do stock it as well.

Must be used diluted, I just do it by "feel". Google would be your friend for dilution rates :wink:

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Hy peroxide from chemists, some supermarkets do stock it as well.

Must be used diluted, I just do it by "feel". Google would be your friend for dilution rates :wink:

 

Sweet thanks man, I'll buy some tomorrow :)

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Wait wait wait. First of all: Dont use the tomato dust as i´ve heard that copper reduces the viability. Hydrogen Peroxyde is great but you need to know how to use it. If you get the concentration wrong, you´ll most likely kill your seeds too. Where do you have the seeds in? Picture? You know, in most cases its enough to take off the lid, let everything get dry and spray the soil everytime the soil is dry again. You probably had mold because you had one bad seed corn that started it. Remove the source of the mold and try germinating everything without a lid. If all signs of mold are gone, you can even put the lid back on.

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Ok seeds are in take away containers in a home made grow box with 2x 2foot fluros, sowed in cactus soil I got from a cactus nursery there is lots of mold everywhere . I'm wishing I microwaved the soil first now I'll take some pics tomorrow when I get back from work .

I found some info that said to dilute peroxide 1/10

Edited by mushroomman

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you need to get yourself some course sand or river sand... its much better for the takeaway tek

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Well i dont think that chemicals will solve your problem if you dont reduce your air humidity now. Take out the box and take off the lid. Peroxide will only buy you a few days if at all but the mold will come back and you can only put a certain amount of peroxide and water into the soil. If it gets too wet, seed wont germinate. But you need to water regularly with a peroxid mix if you want to keep the mold under control. Do you see your dilemma? You need to bring the infected containers to a place where you have good supply of fresh air. Maybe near a window? Dont water as long as you have mold there. Its not a problem that the soil dries out completely. You can start the germination cycle again once your mold problem is under control.

Next time, use diffrent soil. Commercial cactus seed is not ideal for sowing out. What you need is something purely mineralistic like Coarse sharp sand or quartz sand with particles of 1-2 mm.

Edited by Evil Genius
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Well i dont think that chemicals will solve your problem if you dont reduce your air humidity now. Take out the box and take off the lid. Peroxide will only buy you a few days if at all but the mold will come back and you can only put a certain amount of peroxide and water into the soil. If it gets too wet, seed wont germinate. You need to bring the infected containers to a place where you have good supply of fresh air. Maybe near a window? Dont water as long as you have mold there. Its not a problem that the soil dries out completely. You can start the germination cycle again once your mold problem is under control.

Next time, use diffrent soil. Commercial cactus seed is not ideal for sowing out. What you need is something purely mineralistic like Coarse sharp sand or quartz sand with particles of 1-2 mm.

 

Once I let the soil drys out and the the mold is gone will it come back once I water it again? Next time I'll use sand :)

The last lot of perus I sowed into soil I didn't have any problems with I don't know what went wrong with these ones?

Thanks for all the help guys

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Dont think that anything special went wrong. Spores are everywhere. If they find the right conditions, they´ll grow. Maybe last time, the soil was too wet for molds to grow. Maybe it was a numb seed that started the mold or something like that. In this particular case the cause doesnt matter because its almost impossible to sow out under sterile conditions anyway. If you will put up the lid again, its very likely the mold will come back. So i would recommend keeping off the lid and water everytime soil gets too dry. You can also add some peroxide into your water in order to prevent another outbreak. Sowing out in containers is an art and it took me a long time to figure out how to keep my seedlings alive when something goes wrong. If you have mold in your soil, you can hardly stop it if you keep up the lid. The humous in the soil is what keeps it alive and as long as you dont nuke it away with chemicals it will keep coming back if it finds the right conditions.

Edited by Evil Genius
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Sweet i will keep the lid off from now on, but would it still be ok keep them in the grow box once the mold has gone?

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Wouldnt really recommend that either. But you can try. Put it in and if the mold keeps coming back, take it out.

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